Overview of Full Research Projects and Pilot Studies 1. Underlying Philosophy of Projects A major goal of the Center is to identify and support full projects and pilot projects in the field of minority childhood obesity that can advance our understanding regarding its etiology, prevention and treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases in minority youth and children. Our long-term goals in the Research Core are twofold: [unreadable] Provide funding for innovative research that addresses gaps in our current knowledge and understanding of obesity and obesity-related diseases in minority children and adolescents and [unreadable] Promote pilot studies focused on prevention and treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases in minority children and adolescents, and to support the research of new investigators entering the field. We propose 3 full projects and 2 pilot projects with a unified, integrated and transdisciplinary approach, with a major focus on Hispanic and African American children and youth. These projects, and their interrelations are summarized below, and explained in more details in the sections that follow: Project 1: Acute feeding studies to examine the short-term effects of high sugar/low fiber meals on the resulting hormone profile, and observed physical activity and food intake in lean and obese minority youth. Project 2: Examines body fat deposition sites (subcutaneous, versus visceral, muscle, liver and pancreas) and obesity and obesity-related disease progression using advanced imaging techniques. [unreadable] Pilot Project 1: Examines gene expression from adipose tissue sites and liver obtained by biopsy from overweight adults. [unreadable] Project 3: Randomized clinical "efficacy" trial on the effects of resistance training on improving obesity, body fat patterns and related disease risk factors in obese teenagers. [unreadable] Pilot Project 2: Translation of the intervention to a more "real-world" setting appropriate for use in community settings.